Events in Ferguson,
Missouri, last month have led some legislators to finally
acknowledge the necessity of cameras for cops—both body cameras and
dash cameras, neither of which are yet ubiquitous. Unlike the
“free” military gear from the feds, cameras for cops cost, and
Democrats in Illinois want those cameras paid for through higher
fines.
Via the Associated Press:
State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, a Peoria Democrat, introduced a
bill allowing police departments to apply for grants to purchase
either body cameras or video recording equipment for squad cars.
She told reporters in Springfield the proposal would be funded by
an additional $6 surcharge on fines for criminal or traffic offense
convictions, which she estimates would bring in $4 million to $6
million annually.
Gordon-Booth and other backers of the bill may have found it
impossible to avoid all the news coming out of Ferguson, but they
did manage to avoid the parts that threaten their bread and butter,
like Radley Balko’s expose at The Washington Post, which
revealed how law enforcement agencies in the St. Louis area use
petty law enforcement and the fines associated with it to run their
own “fiefdoms.”
Body cameras and dash cams are important tools for policing—they
protect residents from police abuse and police officers from false
accusations. But as police departments enjoy military gear, cutting
edge tech, and all kinds of generous benefits and privileges, local
and state governments need to find money for police cameras in
already existing budgets, not look to put the
squeeze even further on
poor and marginalized communities to pay for them.
At least one Illinois legislator gets it. Jim Durkin, the
republican leader in the Illinois House, supports body cameras but
told the AP he was concerned about using a fee increase to pay for
them.
h/t Mark Sletten
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